On May 21, 1863, the Seventh Day Adventist Church was formally established in Battle Creek, Michigan.

For half a decade, Battle Creek acted as the hub of the budding Seventh-day Adventist Church. Founders of Adventism likely anticipated a welcoming atmosphere in Battle Creek, said James Nix, director of the Ellen G. White Estate.

“Battle Creek was influenced by Quakers who were noted for being tolerant of different viewpoints held by others,” Nix said. “That might have given a more open, tolerant reception to the Sabbath-keeping Adventists than might have been true of some other places.”

Battle Creek is the site of the Adventist Church’s first publishing house, the Review and Herald, and the Battle Creek Sanitarium, made famous by John Harvey Kellogg. Adventist Church co-founder Ellen White lived with her family in the city.

In 1855, Sabbath-keeping believers in Michigan invited Adventist Church co-founder Ellen White and her husband James to move to Battle Creek, where they promised to run the church’s printing press.

The newly-established believers in Battle Creek organized into a world church structure in 1863, calling themselves the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Over the next 50 years, the Adventist movement grew into a more than 100,000-member organization. Today, membership is nearly 16 million.

While Battle Creek is no longer the headquarters of the Adventist world church, William Fagal, associate director for the White Estate, said the city holds important parts of the church’s history.

“Things really began to take place there,” Fagal said. “We took our first steps [toward] organization medical work, and official church-sponsored educational work in Battle Creek, and from there we sent out our first missionary. All of these enterprises, and more, grew during the Battle Creek years.”

Today, Battle Creek is the home of the Adventist Historic Village, a restored collection of buildings that played vital roles in the church’s heritage. Exhibits include the homes of Ellen and James White and church co-founder William Hardy, an influential African-American Adventist.